Events Timeline

Orlando includes short event entries, freestanding and embedded in author profiles, about moments and processes relevant to literary history and organized into four categories: Women writers, Writing Climate, Political Climate, and Social Climate. Explore the timelines by searching for date(s) and/or words or phrases associated with them.

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1766: At the previously unlicensed Haymarket Theatre...

Building item

1766

At the previously unlicensed Haymarket TheatreSamuel Foote was awarded a licence to put on plays during the summer, when the patent or fully-licensed theatres were closed.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.

1766: A pornographic work masquerading as a novel...

Building item

1766

A pornographic work masquerading as a novel was published: Genuine Memoirs of the Celebrated Miss Maria Brown.
London, April. “Avoiding the Subject: The Presence and Absence of Venereal Disease in the Eighteenth-Century English Novel”. The Secret Malady: Venereal Disease in Eighteenth-Century Britain and France, edited by Linda E. Merians, University Press of Kentucky, 1996, pp. 213-27.
223-5
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

About 1766: Printer and engraver John Spilsbury perfected...

Building item

About 1766

Printer and engraver John Spilsbury perfected the dissected map which became the forerunner of the jigsaw puzzle.
Drabble, Margaret. “A Day Out in Kew”. Jane Austen Sings the Blues, edited by Nora Foster Stovel, University of Alberta Press, 2009, pp. 57-65.
58-9

1766: Jeanne Baret (or Barret or Bonnefoy), disguised...

National or international item

1766

Jeanne Baret (or Barret or Bonnefoy), disguised as the male valet and botanical assistant to Philibert Commerson , set sail with the voyage of discovery of de Bougainville , eventually becoming the first woman to...

Elizabeth Griffith: 9 January 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Elizabeth Griffith

9 January 1766

EG 's comedy The Double Mistake opened at Covent Garden Theatre : in contrast to her first effort it ran well, bringing her several benefits and a royal command performance.
Griffith, Elizabeth. “Introduction”. The Delicate Distress, edited by Cynthia Booth Ricciardi and Susan Staves, University Press of Kentucky, 1997, p. vii - xviii.
xxx
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

14 January 1766: William Pitt appealed to the House of Commons...

Building item

14 January 1766

William Pitt appealed to the House of Commons to treat America as a kindly, paternalistic husband would treat a wife.
Thomas, Peter David Garner. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767. Clarendon, 1975.
173
Thomas, Peter David Garner. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767. Clarendon, 1975.
173

Eliza Fenwick: 1 February 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Eliza Fenwick

1 February 1766

Elizabeth Jaco (later EF ) was born (perhaps at Lancaster or Sheffield or Lichfield, Staffordshire) on this day according to her own and family statements, but some scholarly controversy now surrounds these.
EF and...

18 March 1766: The Stamp Act was repealed....

National or international item

18 March 1766

The Stamp Act was repealed.
Thomas, Peter David Garner. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767. Clarendon, 1975.
247, 218, 227

27 March 1766: Oliver Goldsmith published his single, sentimental-humorous...

Writing climate item

27 March 1766

Oliver Goldsmith published his single, sentimental-humorous novel, The Vicar of Wakefield.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
21 (1766): 439-41
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
27 March 2008

May Drummond: April 1766

Women writers item
Author event in May Drummond

April 1766

The Gracechurch Street, London, Meeting of the Society of Friends decided to expel MD from the Society.
Reilly, Matthew. “The Life and Literary Fictions of May Drummond, Quaker Female Preacher”. Eighteenth-Century Fiction, Vol.
28
, No. 2, Nov. 2015, pp. 287-12.
306, 310

Anna Williams : 1 April 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Anna Williams

1 April 1766

AW 's Miscellanies in Prose and Verse was finally published by subscription through the firm of Thomas Davies , sixteen years after the first printed proposals for it.
qtd. in
Fleeman, John David, and James McLaverty. A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Clarendon Press, 2000, 2 vols.
2: 1139-42
Larsen, Lyle. Dr. Johnson’s Household. Archon Books, 1985.
53

Charlotte Smith: Early 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Charlotte Smith

Early 1766

CS bore her first child, a son.
Hilbish, Florence. Charlotte Smith, Poet and Novelist. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.
55

Susannah Gunning: By April 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Susannah Gunning

By April 1766

Susannah Minifie (later SG ) collaborated with her sister again in a didactic novel, The Picture, printed for the authors.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
21 (1766): 288

Sarah Scott: 9 April 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Sarah Scott

9 April 1766

SS changed her publisher back to MillarAndrew Millar for The History of Sir George Ellison, a sequel to Millenium Hall.
Rizzo, Betty, and Sarah Scott. “Introduction”. The History of Sir George Ellison, University Press of Kentucky, 1996, p. ix - xlv.
xliv

Germaine de Staël: 22 April 1766

Writing climate item
Author event in Germaine de Staël

22 April 1766

Germaine Necker (later GS ) was born in Paris, her parents' only child.
Staël, Germaine de. Dix années d’exil. Treuttel and Würtz, 1821.
xv
Winegarten, Renee. Mme de Staël. Berg, 1985.
117

Sarah Gardner: From 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Sarah Gardner

From 1766

SG apparently had some success acting during summer seasons (15 May to 15 September) with Samuel Foote at the Haymarket Theatre .
qtd. in
Highfill, Philip H. et al. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1973–1993.
5: 464
Gardner, Sarah. Colyton MS.

Elizabeth Griffith: By 31 May 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Elizabeth Griffith

By 31 May 1766

EG finished drafting a comedy, original not adapted, which, despite a prolonged battle with David Garrick , never reached either stage or print.
Rizzo, Betty. “’Depressa Resurgam’: Elizabeth Griffith’s Playwriting Career”. Curtain Calls, edited by Mary Anne Schofield and Cecilia Macheski, Ohio University Press, 1991, pp. 120-42.
130

31 May 1766: Coalmine-owner and bluestocking Elizabeth...

Building item

31 May 1766

Coalmine-owner and bluestocking Elizabeth Montagu , who had already commented acidly on the narrowness of Newcastle streets, wrote of its people as little better than Savages.
Child, Elizabeth. “Elizabeth Montagu, Bluestocking Businesswoman”. Reconsidering the Bluestockings, edited by Nicole Pohl and Betty Schellenberg, Huntington Library, 2003, pp. 153-73.
159

Judith Cowper Madan : 1 June 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Judith Cowper Madan

1 June 1766

Nearly three months after suffering a bad fall, JCM wrote her will, in non-legal language, in the form of a letter to her daughter Maria , who was her executor.
Madan, Falconer. The Madan Family. Oxford University Press, 1933.
91

By June 1766: James Fordyce anonymously printed his Sermons...

Building item

By June 1766

James Fordyce anonymously printed his Sermons to Young Women. It went through ninety-five British reprints by 1850, plus half as many again in the USA.
Hunt, Margaret R. The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender, and the Family in England, 1680-1780. University of California Press, 1996.
75
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
22: 18-31
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
23: 61
Fleeman, John David, and James McLaverty. A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Clarendon Press, 2000, 2 vols.
2: 1154
Hunt...

Susanna Blamire: July 1766

Women writers item
Author event in Susanna Blamire

July 1766

SB 's Aunt Simpson wrote a letter expressing anxiety about the relationship between her niece and Lord Ossulston of Chillingham Castle in Northumberland (later the fourth Earl Tankerville).
Maycock, Christopher. A Passionate Poet: Susanna Blamire, 1747-94: A Biography. Hypatia, 2003.
16, 17

May Drummond: After 11 July 1766

Women writers item
Author event in May Drummond

After 11 July 1766

Disowned by the Society of Friends in both Edinburgh and London, MD issued a self-defensive broadsheet: To the Meeting Assembled in the Chamber at Gracechurch-Street, which appears to be her final publication.
Drummond, May. To the Meeting assembled in the Chamber at Gracechurch-street. 1766.
title-page
Reilly, Matthew. “The Life and Literary Fictions of May Drummond, Quaker Female Preacher”. Eighteenth-Century Fiction, Vol.
28
, No. 2, Nov. 2015, pp. 287-12.
310 and n57

July 1766: Biographium Foemineum. The Female Worthies;...

Building item

July 1766

Biographium Foemineum. The Female Worthies; or, Memoirs of the Most Illustrious Ladies, of all Ages and Nations was anonymously published.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
22 (1766): 44-8
Ballard, George. Memoirs of Several Ladies of Great Britain. Editor Perry, Ruth, Wayne State University Press, 1985.
427

Olaudah Equiano: 10 July 1766

Writing climate item
Author event in Olaudah Equiano

10 July 1766

In the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean, OE bought his freedom from slavery from his owner Robert King . The transaction was legally registered the next day.
Equiano, Olaudah. “Introduction, etc”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, edited by Angelo Costanzo, Peterborough, ON, 2001, pp. 7-37.
31

30 July 1766: William Pitt again formed a Whig ministry,...

National or international item

30 July 1766

William Pitt again formed a Whig ministry, but his health was so poor that he resigned as Prime Minister before the general election of spring 1768.
Namier, Sir Lewis Bernstein, and John, 1920 - Brooke, editors. The House of Commons, 1754-1790. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1964.
1: 535